Songs by the Hearth

Jeekos_Journal_Entry_6

Jeeko’s Journal – Entry 6

16th of Readying

Been a long day.

Spoke to gnomes with Fenton. Fenton says gnomes believe there’s some sort of God of freezing and death in the magic blizzard. Thanked them for their warning, then found a way inside the pyramids. Lots of tricky machines hiding entrances, and even more traps. Proud to say very few traps have found any targets while I’m around. Fought a giant crab; it could talk. It stopped when Korbin took off his helmet. Crab seemed to recognize what Korbin was; seem to be others like him.

Found the body of TlockToloq Tloques Poplo P o p o l o c a s. Hadarai possessed body; body was a Kindrinker. (Com: Vampire) Tried to feed on Fenton from the darkness; felt him coming and stopped it. Marcus started cutting him up and knocked out his teeth. Gave me Kindrinker fangs. Not sure what I’ll do with them, but have lots of ideas. Don’t think Marcus likes Kindrinkers. Carrying bits with him, gonna burn them in the sun later. Hate Hadarai more and more.

Also fought a big snail that thought he was smart, and a pretty Grassperson lady who wanted to kill us too. Gave big kisses, though. Sometimes they felt good, but one time they made it hard to breathe. Weird.

The people who made this place seem to be called the “Syndrati” and seemed to worship the Sun. They fought some sort of pale masters of cold and dark.

Thaal’s bird got crushed in a beast-head trap. Got it open and got what was inside; some sort of precious crown. Thaal holding it for now.

Found some sort of…sleeping satyrs. Thaal attacked one and a short fight happened. Afterward they turned to dust, like they got very old very quickly. Then Thaal drank sleeping potion. Stupid Thaal. Woke him up with magic scroll we found.

Air was toxic; started getting to the group, especially Fenton. Had to lend him my filter mask, but it seemed to help him a lot. As we were leaving the rancid air, an earthquake shook the building. Worries me a bit. Tauracon got a box of silver.

Found some sort of old game. A ball that moves on its own, and the players have to hit it into a goal. Every time the ball flies into its own goal one of the players have to die? Either way we won the game without very much difficulty. Found some treasure, probably the reward for the winners.

Found a large room full of cats and a statue. Wanted nothing to do with the room; moved on quickly. Encountered a room of darkness even I couldn’t see through; Thaal braved the darkness and discovered a magic skull of some sort that emits dark like a lantern emits light. He had quite the time figuring out how to turn it off, but followed my idea of putting it in a bag—it worked. Darkness works like a lantern’s light and can be blocked.

In the room was what we thought to be the corpse of a Devilborn. It wasn’t dead, and woke up while I was looting it. I almost stabbed him. (Devilborn named Gideon) Marcus thought he might be another Kindrinker. Marcus really doesn’t like them. Seemed to recognize the Paleskins, and mentioned that “they” were fighting the Paleskins. Showed him old Devilborn coins; Gideon recognized them. Gideon seems to be very old, or from a time very long ago. Also seems to be a bit of a coward; admitted he was playing dead when he heard us. Knew some interesting things, though; pyramid is called “Hadari.” Doubt it’s a coincidence how similar it is to Hadarai. Mentioned he was looking for some sort of dark power…and that he has never hurt anyone but “believes in himself” now. Everything else in here has tried to kill us, not so sure on Gideon yet. Seems friendly enough, but will keep an eye on him. Just to be sure.

Group is resting now. The poisonous air took a toll on Tauracon, and Thaal has warded the area against enemies. Have some ideas for when we finally get back. Found a book with interesting recipes; can’t wait to try them.

[The following several pages are a mix of sketches and recipes; the sketches seem to be different possible configurations of some sort of reservoir, with others being Jeeko’s blade with theoretical alterations to it. The focus of the changes seems to be some sort of liquid chamber situated on the weapon itself.]